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BRIAN PRICE
6-2/300
UCLA Junior

PROS: Has a dangerous first step, able to collapse the pocket and make plays in the backfield. Does a good job in pursuit vs. the run, chasing down ballcarriers. Has lots of power and flashes potential as a dominant bull rusher. Shows a decent swim move. Can make the stop at the point and hard to block one on one.
CONS: Spends way too much time on the ground, has poor balance. Loses leverage too often against the blocker. Tends to use his shoulder when bull rushing rather than hands. Doesn't use his hands very well for the most part as a pass rusher. Gets pancaked too often. Will get engulfed by double teams. Needs to improve his motor. DOesn't break down well once he's in the backfield, so he'll miss some stops.
OVERVIEW: Price is a boom/bust prospect that flashes dominance as a 3-technique tackle during games, but other times looks bad. Had 7 sacks and 23.5 tackles for loss as a junior.
NFL FORECAST: Price is one of those players that has all the potential in the world. And if he lives up to it, he'll be a dominant pass rusher and disruptor at the next level. In that regard, he reminds me a lot of Kris Jenkins during his Carolina days. But at the same time, there are a lot of red flags about him. His technique is raw, and he doesn't play with good balance, and he doesn't have a great motor. All of those indicate that there's probably just as much a chance that he never gets off the bench and is a career backup and underachiever in the mold of Ryan Sims. I think if he's brought along a bit slowly, starting off as a reserve and then working his way into the starting lineup, he can be fine. He played mostly in the 3-technique and wasn't that effective the few times he played end in a 3-man front. So I think a big part of his success will be playing that same role at the next level. I think a team that tries to employ him as a player that they put all over the line will be disappointed. I think down the road, he could eventually develop into a capable nose tackle just like Jenkins did. He's the classic type of player that puts on weight as his career goes on, just like Jenkins, Jamal Williams, and others have done. Again, he can be a dominant player, but I think he'll be up and down quite a bit during his career. If he's well-coached and not rushed into things, I think he'll stand a much better chance. But he should go to a team where he'll have another solid defensive tackle to help mentor him rather than going to a team where he'll be asked to do it all in the middle.
ATL FORECAST: Price could be a good player here in Atlanta, but he doesn't have the ideal versatility to play across the line (at least initially) like hte Falcons like. But at the very least early in his career, he should make a nice rotational player that can be a disruptive presence and spell Babineaux and Jerry on passing downs. Down the road, he could develop the more well-rounded game where he could be a disruptive playmaker. But he's not really a high motor player, and because of it I'm not sure he'll surpass Jerry or Babineaux on the depth chart, who both play with a high motor. But he should make the best No. 3 defensive tackle in the league.
VALUE: There is a buyer's beware with Price. He definitely has the pure talent to be a Top 15 pick if you look only at the positives. But when you throw in the negatives, it probably makes him more in line with early second round talent. Splitting the difference and being a mid-to-late first round pick would not be a reach for a team that plans to use him as a 3-technique guy only at first.

SKILLS
1-poor, 2-weak, 3-above average, 4-very good, 5-elite

STRENGTH: 4.0
POINT OF ATTACK: 3.5
QUICKNESS: 4.0
PASS RUSH: 3.5
MOTOR: 2.5

Pros: Good size, strength and athleticism. He has impressive quickness off the line and gets upfield very quickly and can penetrate into the backfield very nicely. He flashes the ability to shed blocks effectively and flashes good hand usage. He flows to the ball fairly well on outside runs, and has a good motor to give chase from the backside. He offers a pass rush due to his good quickness off the line and his decent ability to shed blocks.

Cons: He lacks balance and spends an awful lot of time on the ground. He leans into blocks frequently and that has something to do with him ending up on the ground so often. He doesn’t do a good job of driving his feet when he is trying to bull rush or when he is trying to hold up at the point of attack. He also attempts a lot of tackles when he is out of control coming into the backfield and he misses a lot of potential tackles for loss.

Overall: Price is a boom-bust prospect to me. He has a lot of talent but he is not polished as a defensive tackle. He has a number of bad habits that will preclude him from making a significant impact in the NFL early in his career, or at least a consistent one. He leans into the blockers a lot, doesn’t use his hands to bull-rush but rather pushes with his shoulder, attempts a lot of tackles while out of control in the backfield and has serious balance issues. I believe he is going to take a good amount of coaching before he is ready to make a significant impact in the NFL because his fundamentals and technique are very sloppy outside of his hand usage, which is inconsistent. He has potential because of his natural talent, especially because of his quickness off the line and his ability to bull-rush when he gets his hands into the blockers’ pads and maintains his leg drive. His ceiling is a quality UT who has a long NFL career, but I don’t think he will ever be a Pro-Bowler. His floor, however, is a #3 or #4 UT who makes irregular contributions because of his natural talent but never really polishes his fundamentals or works to improve on his bad habits. I personally think he is more inclined to bust, but that is because I don’t think he will ever truly remedy his balance issues and his habit of attempting tackles while out of control in the backfield. That is a scary thought for teams who are considering using a late 1st or early 2nd round pick on him.

Projection: Early-mid 2nd: He could sneak into the late 1st, but ultimately I think he will end up in this range. His potential and natural talent probably won’t allow him to slide past the middle of the 2nd, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable drafting him until the 3rd or the 4th round because of his apparent lack of polish and poor fundamentals.


SKILLS
1-poor, 2-weak, 3-above average, 4-very good, 5-elite

STRENGTH: 3.5
POINT OF ATTACK: 3.0
QUICKNESS: 4.0
PASS RUSH: 3.5
MOTOR: 2.5
FUNDAMENTALS: 1.5